The present invention relates generally to the field of systems for and methods of animal production. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems for and methods of optimizing animal production based on environmental nutrient inputs to an animal production system.
An animal production system may include any type of system or operation utilized in producing animals or animal based products. Examples may include farms, ranches, aquaculture farms, animal breeding facilities, etc. Animal production facilities may vary widely in scale, type of animal, location, production purpose, etc. However, almost all animal production facilities can benefit from identifying and implementing improvements to production efficiency. Improvements to production efficiency can include anything that results in increased production results, improved proportional output of desired products versus less desirable products (e.g. lean vs. fat), and/or decreased production costs.
A producer (i.e. a farmer, rancher, aquaculture specialist, etc.) generally benefits from maximizing the amount or quality of the product produced by an animal (e.g. gallons of milk, pounds of meat, quality of meat, amount of eggs, nutritional content of eggs produced, amount of work, hair/coat appearance/health status, etc.) while reducing the cost for the inputs associated with that production. Exemplary inputs may include animal feed, animal facilities, animal production equipment, labor, medicine, etc.
Animal feeds are compositions of a large variety of raw materials or ingredients. The ingredients can be selected to optimize the amount of any given nutrient or combination of nutrients in an animal feed product based upon the nutrient composition of the ingredient mixture used.
The nutritional composition of any one feed ingredient can be used in combination with the nutritional composition of every other ingredient in the feed to produce an animal feed that maximizes or minimizes an evaluation criteria. One example of an evaluation criteria is the growth and production rate of the animal in the shortest amount of time. Other examples of evaluation criteria can include, but are not limited to, a work rate for an animal, an appearance of an animal, a health state of an animal, etc. Animal feed producers have recognized that certain nutritional compositions help animals to meet or exceed evaluation criteria better than other nutritional compositions. For example, a particular cow feed composition can be made that will deliver an improved balance of essential amino acids post ruminally. This has been shown to have the effect of increasing the cow's milk production.
Similarly, animal feed producers have recognized that certain environmental nutrient inputs can affect the nutrients that are ingested by the animal which has an effect on the animals in meeting or exceeding evaluation criteria. For example, dairy animals are often allowed to roam in a pasture where they are likely to consume grasses growing in the pasture. This consumption reduces the animal's consumption of a customized animal feed that will optimize growth by substituting for a portion of the maximal dry matter intake the animal may consume or altering an animal's metabolism of the customized animal feed. Alternatively, the pasture may include levels of other substances that may have a toxic effect either alone or when combined with the nutrients in a customized animal feed.
What is needed is a method and system for maximizing nutritional criteria satisfaction in view of environmental nutrient inputs to an animal's nutrient intake. Further, there is a need for a system and method to create a customized animal feed formulated to satisfy some requirement in view of the environmental nutrient inputs. What is yet further needed is such a system and method configured to generate one or more modification recommendation to modify the environmental nutrient inputs in view of the customized animal feed.